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YouTube and Animators

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YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:22:40


These past few days a number of prominent animators have come out about the bleak future of animation on YouTube. Commenters keep opining, "If only there was an alternative to YouTube!" I'm here to tell you, there IS an alternative to YouTube and you're looking at it.

Newgrounds has given animators a platform since 1999 and the majority of established web animators got their start here. We had real-time publishing for five years before YouTube existed and even beat their Partner Program to the punch with our Flash Ads system.

When YouTube first launched, animators weren't particularly interested. Its growth was largely based on television and other entertainment piracy. Over the years, animators started having their work stolen and posted to YouTube, at which point they began managing their own accounts as a defensive measure. The real tipping point came when YouTube introduced Networks. To limit their liability and outsource the effort of dealing with independent artists, YouTube allowed third party companies to establish networks and receive a premium CPM, so they could incentivize artists to join under their network umbrellas.

Individual networks raised tens of millions of dollars in venture capital to fuel rapid expansion. This created a lot of "bubble" money in the YouTube ecosystem; guaranteed CPMs, acquisitions of exclusive content, etc. It works out when these companies get sold for multiples of what investors put into them. Maker sold for $500-950 million based on having a bunch of contracts with popular YouTube channels.

In comparison, NG has no outside funding and CPMs have traditionally been shit, due to our lax censorship policy and a history of controversial content.

As the YouTube money grew, priorities shifted. Instead of being THE platform, Newgrounds became a springboard to move people to YouTube. Our front page blog space became filled with artists promoting their YouTube pages and a lot of the movies (still SWF format at the time) had "Watch on YouTube" buttons that were larger than the "Play" buttons. Our front page was essentially a big redirect to YouTube.

That wasn't the only thing working against NG though. Our CPMs declined as ad dollars moved into video and social advertising, not to mention the ubiquity of AdBlock. Game developers were losing confidence in Flash and jumping over to mobile and Steam. The last few years were a huge existential crisis for NG, as we shed staff and reduced other operating expenses, while also working to adapt.

We added support for animation in video format and released Swivel, the best ever SWF to video conversion tool, used by most web animators today. We knew this would speed up the migration to YouTube but we thought people would at least keep posting to NG; sadly a lot of them took the free software and ran.

I got it though; NG had failed them miserably. Web animators were growing up and they wanted to make a living; that wasn't happening with NG. I felt like this was a deserved punishment because NG hadn't lived up to its potential and I spent a few years beating myself up about it.

Now, though, our potential is growing. NG is paying its bills and payouts to content producers are rising each month. In addition to video support, we accept games made with HTML5 and Unity. We're running video pre-roll ads on all of it and the fill-rate keeps improving.

I can't promise that you will ever make a living off NG but I can promise that taking the time to involve yourself with NG will only help you. It won't take away from your YouTube views or your YouTube revenue and if anything will win you new fans and put extra money in your pocket.

There's no reason for you to give YouTube exclusive content if they aren't paying you for exclusive content. In fact, showing YouTube they AREN'T the only game in town is the one thing that will make them work harder for you.

Post your animations on YouTube but post them on NG too! Nurture fans on both platforms and the combined fanbase will translate to larger numbers on Facebook and Twitter. Tell fans about your stuff on NG! There was a time when social media didn't exist; you uploaded content to NG and depended on the NG front page to tell people. Now everyone has their own social media fans and they send them to YouTube exclusively. Mix it up a little! Make some people at YouTube jealous!

I didn't have the confidence to say this in the past because our CPMs were too low but we are getting more and more competitive and your support will speed up our progress. Our profits don't go to investors, they go towards sponsorships, contests and cool stuff like those Wacom giveaways we once had every December. We've streamlined the hell out of NG and NG doesn't make money unless the community is making money, so we don't win unless you do.

My pessimism has helped me achieve some great things in life (you keep working when you aren't satisfied) but it has also hurt me because I constantly undersell my accomplishments, NG especially. I'll say now that NG is the best thing that ever happened on the Internet and it deserves to be recognized. The NG staff shows up every day and keeps making NG better, through boom and bust for nearly 20 years, and no site is more deserving of success than Newgrounds.

So to close this out...

We hope to see your next animation!


Working on Nightmare Cops!

BBS Signature

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:32:38


Youtube is for djangos.


BBS Signature

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:33:53


Thanks for the great news, I may not be one of the content producers but I have seen the rise in ad value and I'm sure everyone can feel more welcome for it. I look forward to what you have to come, and the empire Newgrounds will once again bring about (I watched things on here far too often when I was younger, YouTube was weird...).

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:35:09


My channel is shit because it's not even remotely as important as my NG account. I'll start making stuff eventually.

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:37:33


You speak a mighty awesome truth! Thanks!

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:38:11


We need more aggressive promoting on social media. If I ever got a Facebook account, it would be to just help promote this site and its content.


BBS Signature

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:47:38


At 8/3/14 01:22 PM, TomFulp wrote: I'll say now that NG is the best thing that ever happened on the Internet and it deserves to be recognized. The NG staff shows up every day and keeps making NG better, through boom and bust for nearly 20 years, and no site is more deserving of success than Newgrounds.

I love this.

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:50:22


Swivel IS the best. It's so helpful and easy, while other converters add watermarks.
I really love Newgrounds.


so cold down here...

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:50:23


NG 4 LIFE

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:51:55


I will always post to my work to Newgrounds. I only post stuff to youtube so I can show family members my animations that aren't inappropriate. Also I get way more views here on newgrounds.

Also I disabled this site on my adblock. Sometimes I even click on all the ads because I know they're safe and virus free.

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:52:26


At 8/3/14 01:39 PM, TecNoir wrote: Are we doing anything to bring YouTubers here? How do we recruit users other than the word of mouth?

I gotta say I think we've been fucked by youtube on this regard, since they don't always allow outsourcing links, such as "watch on Newgrounds" unless it's on the description, and even then people don't always click those links, heck sometimes they don't even read descriptions altogether.

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:53:44


At 8/3/14 01:22 PM, TomFulp wrote: We added support for animation in video format

That's something that might help out a lot more than you think. Since these days everyone's using mobile devices that don't support flash (even though you can still get flash support with a special app).


BBS Signature

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:55:41


At 8/3/14 01:38 PM, NuclearInfected wrote: We need more aggressive promoting on social media. If I ever got a Facebook account, it would be to just help promote this site and its content.

When you share youtube or veoh videos on facebook you can watch it on the facebook page, it would make it easier to share videos when they are watched on the facebook page.

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 13:58:37


Newgrounds has always been a lot better to me than youtube. Sure, I may not be popular, but I still get way more views here than youtube, and not once have I made more from ad revenue on youtube than Newgrounds.

To me, Newgrounds is still the place where you can get views no matter what. if you're a nobody on youtube, you'll get little to no views. If you're a nobody on Newgrounds, you'll get at least a couple hundred views, and that's a great thing. I feel like the average submission used to get at least a thousand views and then better submissions would get more, but now it seems like the average submission gets around 300 to 500 views, maybe more if it's better quality, and only parodies and stuff from popular people get more. Viewership does seem to have gone down, but it's still way more than I could ever get on youtube, so not really any complaints there ;3

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:00:11


And to add a suggestion, I'd like to see an option to view flash videos in full-screen.


BBS Signature

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:01:15


At 8/3/14 01:22 PM, TomFulp wrote: We hope to see your next animation!

Maybe Newgrounds should pull a Netflix and fund animators to make NG exclusive original series.

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:03:59


At 8/3/14 01:22 PM, TomFulp wrote: We added support for animation in video format and released Swivel, the best ever SWF to video conversion tool, used by most web animators today.

I recently noticed that loopdeloop recommends Swivel. There really ought to be more cross pollination between you guys and them than there currently is.

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:04:19


Really inspiring read, Tom! I know NG has had some tough times, but I really have a lot of confidence in it. Uploading content to Youtube hasn't really ever been my focus anyway, most of my stuff is NG-exclusive.

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:04:26


At 8/3/14 02:01 PM, morcov wrote:
At 8/3/14 01:22 PM, TomFulp wrote: We hope to see your next animation!
Maybe Newgrounds should pull a Netflix and fund animators to make NG exclusive original series.

Yes!!! XD

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:09:11


I have a suggestion for non-swf animations, this is a little out there but what if videos that are long enough (around 10 minutes) have the option to have the video-ad in the middle, and if the animation is long enough (like 15 min or more) maybe it can have 2 ads.

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:10:51


Well said, Tom! I've always been so grateful to Newgrounds, I taught myself how to animate with Flash back in 2003 just so I could someday be part of the community. NG has and forever will be a home for my newest animated nonsense!

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:13:26


Hell Yeah! Here, as you say, we can find some fresh cool stuff before they go to generic online gaming websites.. Sure it deserves a lot of recognition, but kids and teenagers (Mostly kids), keep sifting these fun content websites the same way they were looking something to buy.. That's sad...
Better make them probe NG rather then look around some frankinstein websites.. And a little less on Youtube as well..

Yus!


BBS Signature

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:13:32


Good post.

I alway found it maddening how people would 'leave ng for youtube/soundcloud/whatever i always saw it as a real lack of understanding of how to maintain and in rease your reach.

Im kind of out of the loop on the YT nonsense and all the drama of animators having heart to heart about the business of youtube. Did they recently pull the rug on animators? I feel like YT screwed over animators for a long ass time now. Im kind of suprised that in the last few days animators are coming out to denounce yt.

I've seen this coming for some time and its good that ng has kept the lights on and fought tooth and nail to bounce back. I think that the more ng embraces mobile the more competitive it can be. Doesnt have to be anything drastic right off the bat. It can be baby steps. The community embraces enhancements even if a bit unpolished and its about getting out of the waterfall process of running projects from concept to fit and finish. And slicing it up to be more of a from concept to published and nurture it as a living baby as opposed to ok this is done and moving on.


None

BBS Signature

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:19:09


If there's one thing I wish is that adult content received more support, I can understand the reasons for not eligible for ad revenue but that in no way makes it less frustrating. I make more ad revenue from posting to the front page (like a penny) then the nothing I'll ever see from most of work. It's really annoying when I spend a few days on a small little game shooting game and it generates a nice chunk of ad revenue but will never see a penny on an adult game I made that I spent like 3-4 months working on.

It's not worth doing but I like doing it, unless you have your own website like Shadman or take commissions there no way to make money from it. But note I'm speaking in general on this point, no site other then Newgrounds that allows adult content has revenue sharing.

However if there's one thing that Newgrounds does provide for adult content is views, there is no site other then Newgrounds where I see even nearly as many views.

too bad views don't matter on YouTube, AMIRITE!

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:23:02


As seeing as a lot of big guys are turning to patreon these days, have you thought of adding "support this artist" features to encourage people to keep posting on NG? It could be as little as a special button you could put on your submissions that links to your personal donations page.

OR you know what as long as people are paying for supporter badges, wouldn't it be cool if you could designate some percentage of your donation towards specific people? The main reason I'm not donating to any patreon/paypal or buying any shirts is 'cause some unknown amount of that money is going to someone else. but if it were through NG, I'd be totally ok.

OR I think a while ago when the issue of speedpaints in the portal came up someone suggested having a separate section on NG for "behind the scenes-y" type of content. Maybe people could put up bonus content (tutorials, time-lapses, wips, flash files, outtakes, concept art, etc) and then people could download bundles in exchange for a pay what you want donation. Or some fixed amount for the whole package. No one's offering that sort of service yet, and I know most of the people who'd want to buy it are probably on NG anyway.

Ok just spitballin ok just trying to ok

here's what I meant with that first idea by the way:

YouTube and Animators

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:25:28


At 8/3/14 01:22 PM, TomFulp wrote: I can't promise that you will ever make a living off NG but I can promise that taking the time to involve yourself with NG will only help you.

We don't come to Newgrounds to make a living, we come to Newgrounds to be a part of the community

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:30:33



BBS Signature

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:32:36


At 8/3/14 01:54 PM, Zachary wrote: Anyway, what I am trying to say is if you are an animator reading this and you want to become a professional animator, most likely it never happen and you will probably die working a shitty job until you are 80 years old LOL

That's the spirit!


"Till one day, that lion gets up and tears the shit out of everybody."

BBS Signature

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:43:13


Youtube is going to shit, I hope newgrounds makes a big comeback. Newgrounds has the advantage in the sense it has a great community.

Here's a crazy idea... for content on newgrounds why not set up some sore of virtual tipjar option where users can tip a dollar or some bitcoin or whatever to a user who creates a great piece of content. With a small percentage going to NG, and the rest going to the creator. The tipjar would be publicly visible so people can see how much has already been donated. I know if bitcoin was one of the ways to tip, it would get a lot of attention coming newgrounds way!

Also Tom, now would be a great time to do an AMA on reddit! ;)

Response to YouTube and Animators 2014-08-03 14:47:21


I love Newgrounds, i've been part of the community since 06...but i also love YouTube and i've been part of that community for just as long! I post everything i create here, as well as YouTube. Is there anything we can do to fight and make it fair for animators to thrive on the YouTube platform?!